Women, Trauma, and Human Rights

Abstract

Women experience discrimination, violence, and oppression due to their unequal position in society, but only recently have these assaults on women’s dignity been addressed as violations within the human rights framework. When trauma and human rights violations are viewed as arising from patriarchal oppression, trauma-informed and rights-based paradigms converge: recovery does not solely lie with the victims, but requires official accountability and larger systemic change. This chapter challenges readers to understand women’s traumatic experiences as human rights violations, and thus to respond with interventions that enhance gender equity, reduce women’s vulnerability to violence, and improve access to human rights for all. Two case studies provide a road map for how human rights and trauma-informed work can combine to help women successfully assert their human rights.